advice needed.... I just lost my clown fish

jhast0n · Mar 18, 2015

I woke up today and my clown fish was dead. I've had him over 2 months was eating doing great and then belly up no warning, nothing. I tested the water and nitrate - 0 ph -8.4 ammonia - 0 and of course with the dead clown my nitrate was 20. I did a 20% water change and am reducing to a every other day feeding. I'm a bit discouraged because two weeks ago I lost my flame angle. I just dont understand what I am doing wrong. water tested 4 days ago every was perfect. I don't get it any advise? I have a 14 gal biocube lights are all new tanks been up and going for 3 months. Tank mates include, peppermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, sand shifting star fish, diamond goby, and about 6-7 blue legged crabs, oh and a 1 in little scooter blennly.

mike007 · Mar 18, 2015

Did you quarantine fish before adding? If your parameters are correct I think you may have other issues such as disease.

jhast0n · Mar 19, 2015

the flame was the recent addtion along with the gobie and cleaner shrimp. I added them and due to having next to nothing in the tank I was using it as my qt tank until i get it futher along and then set up a seperate small tank for qting. So say I did get a disease from my goof up. How do I get rid of it... can I just wait 6-8 weeks add nothing and break the cycle. Do I have to start over. Everything else in the tank is doing great.

LetItReef · Mar 19, 2015

What is your Salinity and what do you use to measure a Refractrometer or Hydrometer? The Flame Angle needs a bigger tank, sorry for the loss. Scooter Blenny needs to be in a mature tank unless you have pods or just eats what you feed.

Humblefish · Mar 19, 2015

jhast0n said:
the flame was the recent addtion along with the gobie and cleaner shrimp. I added them and due to having next to nothing in the tank I was using it as my qt tank until i get it futher along and then set up a seperate small tank for qting. So say I did get a disease from my goof up. How do I get rid of it... can I just wait 6-8 weeks add nothing and break the cycle. Do I have to start over. Everything else in the tank is doing great.

If this is being caused by a disease, you would need to remove all fish, treat them and go fallow in the DT. How to treat and how long to go fallow are dependent upon the disease. Two diseases - ich & flukes - can harbor in the gills and the fish may never show physical symptoms.

sureal00 · Mar 19, 2015

all that in a 14 gal tank?

jhast0n · Mar 19, 2015

My salinity is .24 and I use a hydrometer. The blenny eats food that I feed it. With in the next couple of month I hope to have a 75 gal tank up and running and that way when these guys out grow my biocube they can have somewhere to go.

jhast0n · Mar 19, 2015

yes, my crabs are about 3/8 in long they are super small. And my goby appears to love spending time in the filtering section rather than the tank. and my blenny he's a tiny guy maybe an inch. And I don't have any fish in the tank at this moment.

fishroomlady · Mar 19, 2015

it's really hard to know if you saw no obvious signs of disease. you could have overloaded your biological filter if you added the flame, goby, and shrimp all at one time. Sometimes fish die for no apparent reason. I might suggest that you forgo any new additions for a bit and then quarantine any new fish prior to putting in the tank. I would definitely not add more than one thing at a time and space any new additions at least two weeks apart. You will need to get some pods for the blenny.

If you have no corals, I wouldn't worry about nitrate at 20. I would feed the fish at least once a day.

miamiangler · Mar 19, 2015

DId You test for Nitrite s ? not Nitrates . I would say it will be high .too many fish and inverts at one time I counted 14in a 14gal tank correct ?You add all in 2 months time ? how many animals did you add or buy at one time ? I am thinking that may be the reason .

jhast0n · Mar 19, 2015

yes, I tested all 4 areas, nitrites-0, nitrates-.20, ph-8.4 and ammonia 0. The tank was up and going for a month before adding anything. I add the clown, then two weeks later the crabs and peppermint shrimp, and then two weeks ago I added the blenny, goby and flame angle. I had done my research, but that is were being a newbie is hard, because you ask 10 ppl you get 10 different solutions, so that's why I'm turning to you guys. I explained to the sales lady, store owner my tank set up and she said due to the blenny size he wouldn't affect the biodump she said all I had to worry about is the flame, and that wouldn't affect my tank to keep up my water changes. So I'm trying to figure things out, and thanks for the help everyone, I truly appreciate it! I'm not going to add anything for at least 6 weeks and just play it safe and enjoy what I've got. Everything in my tank is under an inch or right at in size.

miamiangler · Mar 20, 2015

Why would your LFS let you buy a flame angle knowing you only have a14 gal tank ? I would find a new store !
Sorry to say I think you are way over your limit of fish . I only have 3 fish ,2 snails and some hermits . and of course corals in a 12 gal tank. it`s like you have a big house but all 14 people just live in the small bathroom

NanaReefer · Mar 20, 2015

miamiangler said:
Why would your LFS let you buy a flame angle knowing you only have a14 gal tank ? I would find a new store !
Sorry to say I think you are way over your limit of fish . I only have 3 fish ,2 snails and some hermits . and of course corals in a 12 gal tank. it`s like you have a big house but all 14 people just live in the small bathroom

I'll also add...bring back the Sand Sifting Star Fish before it starves to death!! 14g waaaay to small plus with the tank being so new your moving to fast.